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Shadow Paladin
"Shadow Paladin" (シャドウパラディン Shadō Paradin) is a clan from the United Sanctuary nation, introduced in Booster Set 4: Eclipse of Illusionary Shadows. In the lore, the leader of this clan is Blaster Dark "Diablo". This clan is one of the three armies defending the holy nation. Due to their preference of working in the shadows, without seeking glory or recognition, many do not know of this clan, and the clan's name falls in and out of obscurity from time to time. Despite being a part of the holy nation, they sometimes start conflict within the nation, and have been known to start at least two civil wars. The clan's main fighting force are the warriors in black who once helped to repel the invaders. There are also three main branches of magic, specifically "Ogreshift", "Dragshift", and black magic. This clan also contains many mobile strongholds used for various purposes such as housing studies for mages, or being used as gates and fortifications. In the events of the Cardfight!! Vanguard G series, a black dragon with a blood-red sword sought rebellion against the Grandmaster, and ultimately failed. A young yet prodigal mage travels Planet Cray in search of ancient texts dealing with dragons, while also seeking revenge against the one who killed his brother. Background Who are the Shadow Paladins? (Card of the Day 25th February 2015) The holy nation United Sanctuary has overcome many tragedies and difficulties in its history. In the shade of its history, there is a knightly order which never comes to the front stage. The black knights hide in the darkness, stealth in the darkness, and persevere in performing their tasks indifferently like shadows---it is not clear if they exist nowadays. However, they were there, as the legendary shadow of the radiant light. ---- Shadow Paladin after Invasion Great War (Card of the Day 25th March 2015) After defeating "Link Joker", the invaders that pose a threat to planet Cray during the "Invasion Great War", "Mordred" passed back the title of Grandmaster of Shadow Paladin to "Blaster Dark". With the faith and determination to sustain the holy nation beneath the shadow, Blaster Dark fought silently without seeking praise. His form inspires his subordinates as the mental fulcrum of Shadow Paladin. There are, however, people who don't feel comfortable about Blaster Dark's status. As Blaster Dark uses no words but actions to display his aspirations, misunderstandings and animosities grow in Shadow Paladin from time to time. Conspirators with nefarious ambitions arise and collude, in order to overthrow Blaster Dark and become the new grandmaster. All usurpers who proceed to attack Blaster Dark are easily defeated by their target himself. Yet, the belief of martial leadership is spreading obscurely among the Shadow Paladins. One wonders whether Charon, the advisor of Blaster Dark, notices the situation... ---- The Legend of Shadow Paladin (Card of the Day 30th March 2015) "Blaster Dark", the Grandmaster of Shadow Paladin after the Invasion Great War, has companions who have fought alongside him for a long time. There is Macha the tactician, commanding the troops at the frontier with her sword in her hand, just like Blaster Dark himself. There is Mac Lir, the leader of the Defense Troop that shelters the soldiers on the front line. There are Dorint and Claudas, the twin knights, who unleash their strength for the purpose of Blaster Dark. The angel girl and high owl dance on the battlefield, and bestow power to warriors. The black high dog gallops on the land, and charges forward with Blaster Dark. Standing behind the warriors are Badhadh Caar the great mage, Charon the sage and Nemain the witch, protecting the rear of the knights. The strife of these "heroes" can only be found among the legends, with no official records. Their current whereabouts are, again, hidden in the darkness and unknown to anyone. ---- Shadow Paladin in Modern Times (Monthly Bushiroad 2015 May Issue) "Shadow Paladin", the knightly order of shadow, leaves no name on historical texts, but the details of their existences are recorded in the notes of the King and the memo of a famous sage. However, they have disappeared even from the back stage in modern times, to an extent that their very existence has been doubted. As a result, villains arose frequently in the United Sanctuary where the suppressing force behind the scene was lost. The disappeared knightly order of shadow, the frequent incidents---the simultaneously occurred phenomena caused the inspection team members of the capital came to a hypothesis, that Shadow Paladin was the culprit. In addition, a mysterious monstrosity known as "Black Dragon" showed up. With the interference from "Gear Chronicle", the current situation of Shadow Paladin is being made clear. ---- The Movement of Shadow Paladin (Monthly Bushiroad 2015 July Issue) Now, the knightly order has been divided into two groups. Those who follow the original Grandmaster, and those who are led by the opposing "Claret Sword Dragon"---generally known as the "Divided Clique". Claret Sword Dragon has gained greater power to speak as time flows, and has persuaded those whose dissatisfaction against the style of the knightly order leaked from mouths to follow him. Gradually he assembled subordinates loyal to him. As he judged he has accumulated enough power, he proclaimed himself the Grandmaster of "Shadow Paladin", and declared rebellion openly. To claim the nation his own, he triggered the revolt sternly. ---- The Fusion of Forbidden Spells and the Techniques that Surpasses Time (Monthly Bushiroad 2015 July Issue) It is impossible to analyze the details of technologies of "Gear Chronicle". However, as one briefly figure out "where to work on", "what to be done" and "what are the results", the technologies can be utilized without knowing the tricks. By combining the unknown technologies and forbidden spells with the secret sacrifice of multiple members of the knightly order, "Claret Sword Dragon" developed new forbidden spells. The dark arts, commonly known as "Forbidden Spells of Reinforcement", can respond to the negative emotions of the spellcasters and extract great power of darkness from another spacetime. Nonetheless, the power could disrupt the energy balance between spacetimes, and lead to exacerbation of Interdimensional Crosstalk. ---- Chaos of the Holy Nation, Trap of the Black Dragon, and... (Monthly Bushiroad 2015 September Issue) Long time has passed since the end of the Great Wars. No grave battle has occurred, and the invasions from the neighbouring nation and the pirates are nothing more than checks and balances, as a way of expressing their own power. Not only civilians indulge in peace, but also the knights, deities and sages of the capital... United Sanctuary, the holy nation who has let down its guard, is now exposed to the threat of subversion, triggered by the declaration of war from "Claret Sword Dragon", the Grandmaster of "Shadow Paladin". To make things worse, "Fenrir", a deity of "Genesis", has committed treason with his partakers, and "Black Gravers" of "Angel Feather", led by "Gavrail", were forced to surrender as the hospital and patients were taken hostage. The nation, losing a great portion of its forces, turned to summon back the garrison troops of other cities and expedition troops, and asked for help from other friendly nations. However, it is perhaps an adverse effect brought by the long peace, that they couldn't look through the truth that all their actions had been predicted in Claret Sword Dragon's scheme. And, the Black Dragon couldn't foresee, that the mightiest warrior of "Gear Chronicle" has released its power from restraints to break this desperate situation. ---- Liberation War and the Knightly Order of Shadow (Card of the Day 4th February 2016) Liberation War---that is a great war when the brave knight "Ezel"'s heroic saga was carved into the history. However, only few knows the truth of the war now. During the great war which triggered the establishment of the kingdom's Second Regular Army "Gold Paladin", the kingdom's regular army and the knightly order of shadow joined hands to save the sealed heroes. The regular army "Royal Paladin" fought to liberate the sealed hero of light. And, "Shadow Paladin" fought to liberate the hero of darkness. The two knightly orders, once had exchanged blades and fought hard to annihilate each other, carried the same aspiration and title of the golden knightly order, "Gold Paladin". ---After the war, under the command of the King of Knights of that time, "Gold Paladin" was organized into the kingdom's Second Regular Army. However, the shadowy knights left no name on the history, and disappeared into the kingdom's darkness again. The legend of the "Black Steed Corps", is only known by few knights. And so is the whereabouts of the "Dragon Whelp" who leads the black knights... ---- The Forgotten Legend of the Black Steed Knight There is a mysterious legend in "Shadow Paladin", none knows from when and from where it is told. That is, the "Black Steed Knight", the saviour of the shadowy knights, has been revived. When "Vortimer" just disappeared, there were many members who knew his existence and waited for his revival. However, few people know him now. By the way, the name of Vortimer can be found in a book published by a great sage of the holy knightly order. However, the book is over thousand pages, and his name only appears a few times. It is not really wrong to say none in the Regular Armies know his existence. Playstyle Shadow Paladin's theme is "sacrifice your allies for power". It focuses on calling rear-guards from the deck, but unlike Royal Paladin who gains power from rear-guards, Shadow Paladin retires their rear-guards for costs or effects. It uses superior calling and building hand advantage to recover from the losses of retiring many rear-guards at once. This allows the clan to have a highly aggresive game while still keeping enough resources to defend and has strong consistency via multiple Superior calls similar to Royal Paladin. As of Cardfight!! Vanguard G, Shadow Paladin now focuses on calling grade 1 cards in contrast to Royal Paladin calling grade 2 cards, and also introduces rear-guards whose effects activate when retired similar to Tachikaze, but differ in that they only activate when retired for your cost or effect. This trait of calling Grade 1 is most most prominent with Claret Sword Dragon. The keyword "Ritual" activates based on the number of grade 1 cards in your drop zone, and is mostly used by Dragwizards. This is fulfilled with the clan's usual playstyle of sacrifice. In contrast to the rest of the clan, the "black witches" focus on weakening the opponent by replacing the opponent's rear-guards with grade 0 to mess with their attack formations and strategies and also reduce the opponent's vanguard's power based on how many grade 0 rear-guards they have. They still retire as a cost. Known/Notable Fighters *Ren Suzugamori *Aichi Sendou (Former) *Ratie Curti *Yuichirou Kanzaki *Yuya Karasumori *Kazuma Shouji Design Races Themes Sets containing Shadow Paladin cards Booster Sets Extra Booster Sets Decks and Starter Sets Extra Collections List of Shadow Paladin cards Grade 0 Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 3 Grade 4 Trivia *Many of the cards are named after figures from Celtic lore, as well as Arthurian legend. *In Cardfight!! Vanguard Gaiden: Shining Swordsman, the clan was founded by The Dark Dictator along with Phantom Blaster Dragon. *During an interview in Indonesia, Akira Ito revealed that this is his favorite clan. Category:Shadow Paladin